Ancestral Futures show in Taos

Ancestral Futures show in Taos

During the retreat I taught in Taos last month, I took a bit of time at lunch to walk downtown and duck into a couple of stores I like to visit. I was long out of time, but was walking by the Taos Center for the Arts (TCA) before racing through Kit Carson park back to my students when I remembered an important detail I failed to put on the class calendar that week. The Ancestral Futures show was still up at the TCA. So I resolved to be late and ducked into the gallery. I was so glad I did!

This post is full of images of outstanding tapestry and fiber artists from Northern New Mexico, both contemporary and passed on now. I hope you enjoy the photos!

Misspelling Crotchety and other tapestry mishaps

Misspelling Crotchety and other tapestry mishaps

Sarah Swett and I made a class about a particular warping technique six years ago now. Monday we did a live chat on YouTube to talk about our experience with Fringeless, answer your questions, and talk about the tapestry life.

I have to say that hanging out with Sarah and making goofy videos (along with lots of serious ones) was a lot of fun then and clearly it is still fun now. I think the photo below clearly indicates the difference in our knitting abilities and probably also our weaving abilities. All tapestries in those photos are by Sarah and she wore gorgeous hand-knitted sweaters which she designed on every day we shot the class. I was apparently wearing a cheap cotton sweater from Eddie Bauer which is still in my closet.

We answered a lot of questions about four-selvedge warping including why you might want to do it and how we both use the practice. And if you want to see the misspelling of crotchety, I recommend watching the whole video as Sarah shows us her current work in progress. I hope you enjoy the video!

Winter Trees Weave-Along projects

Winter Trees Weave-Along projects

It has been a lot of fun seeing what everyone is weaving for this weave along. I’ve been giving ideas and patterns on Change the Shed. If you’d like to join us, you can find all the details in THIS blog post from November 13, 2024. That post includes a free PDF download with some tips for weaving and some suggested designs.

The two Change the Shed episodes where I have talked about this project so far can be found on YouTube. November 13, 2024 and November 27, 2024.

In the episode on the 27th I started a new tapestry and we talked some about choosing yarn colors, especially as it comes to value. During the broadcast I wove perhaps 3/4 of an inch in a design woven on its side. I had just gotten to a non-tree element, a holiday ball ornament that I felt compelled to weave and you all helped me choose which hand-dyed silk strands to use for the colors.

Tapestry sales: The cupboards are becoming bare!

Tapestry sales: The cupboards are becoming bare!

I have had my work at Taos Wools in Arroyo Seco for much of this year now and three pieces have sold this fall. Both of the Inscription pieces went home with new owners and Emergence VII went to one of my long-time students.

Below is a photo of Inscription I as I was packaging it up to bring to the gallery in Taos earlier this year. This tapestry was about words and about losing them a piece at a time. I really enjoyed the color gradation and that bright pink. The yarns are hand-dyed by me. The ideas here came from the work of Anni Albers and it is something I’d like to return to in future.

Winter Trees weave along

Winter Trees weave along

To celebrate winter and offer a fun project we can all weave together on Change the Shed, I’m doing a Winter Trees weave along. If you’d like a different subject for your holiday-themed weaving, feel free to choose something else. I’ll add some photos of past winter projects I’ve done below.

I’ll be weaving a couple different tree projects on Change the Shed on November 13 and 27, 2024 and December 13 and 18, 2024. Join me for those free live broadcasts. If you have questions about the project, you can ask them in the comments for this blog post or during the live broadcast. I’ll answer them all on Change the Shed.

I have woven little trees in the past and there are photos below. I’ve also woven other winter and holiday-themed tiny tapestries and if one of those looks like fun to you, feel free to copy it! I don’t yet have a woven example of this year’s trees because I’m weaving them live, but if you watch the episode today, you’ll have a good idea of a direction to take your own weaving.

A fiber fiesta in Santa Fe, NM

A fiber fiesta in Santa Fe, NM

On that event-packed trip to Taos in October where I taught, went to the Taos Wools Festival, and saw the Horizons show in Santa Fe, I also had a couple hours to visit the Mountain and Valley Wool Association show at the fairgrounds in Santa Fe. This is the show that used to be Taos Wool Festival. It moved to Santa Fe some years ago now and I hadn’t been able to visit since their move.

MAVWA in Santa Fe is very different than the one that happened for decades in Taos, but I found it interesting to see the new Taos Wools festival and MAVWA to visit back to back.